Thursday marks the 100-year anniversary of the establishment of the National Parks Service and Southern Utah University, the self-proclaimed University of the Parks is celebrating by taking the day off and heading out-of-doors.
SUU is uniquely positioned to champion the historic anniversary.
“President Scott Wyatt said about a year ago, ‘You know, we really should plan a big birthday party and let the committee go wild,’” said SUU spokesperson Nikki Kontz. “And we said, ‘Why don’t we do one of the largest university field trips?’“
The day’s organized events range from a two-hour bus ride to the Grand Canyon, to activities on campus.
“We’ve actually charged our different faculty and staff members and even student groups to go out. We have over 100 different experiences to National Parks, State Lands, BLM, the Forest Service, even on campus, just to get people outside and engaged.“
SUU is within a few-hours’ drive to seven national parks, and five national monuments.